About Us

Welcome to Arkansas Street Swing

Welcome to Mike & Kim Nelson’s website chronically their journey through Loving, Dancing and Teaching!!

Mike and Kim Nelson met, dated, fell in love and even got married on the dance floor. They love to have fun and act silly. They have been proud members of the Little Rock Bop Club since 1998 and were inducted into the American Bop Association Hall of Fame in 2010. Their love of each other and dancing has only grown over these last 21 years.  Mike and Kim have been sought after all over the country to teach and perform their fun loving, sexy dance style they like to call “Arkansas Street Swing” (arstreetswing.com) See DID2013. A blend and fusion of East Coast, West Coast, Nightclub, Shag, Beach Bop, Salsa, country etc. If there is music playing they can and will dance to it! Their street-swing style of dance allows them to dance to just about any type of music.  They like to “play to the music playing” and love to share their love of dancing with others! They teach privates, groups, large workshops, have competed at a number of events around the country. There is an energy & joy to their dance style and hospitality on the dance floor. They pack in dance, teaching dance, teaching Cabot Dancing with the Stars, travel, family and friends, remodel (they have taken on a real fixer upper of a home) and full time jobs too!!  They have a dance studio in Cabot, AR where they teach dance, as well.   LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR DANCE LESSONS.

What is “Arkansas Street Swing”?

AR Street Swing was a name we came up with to symbolize this Journey.  We were born into the East Coast Swing world in the 90’s. As we fell in love with each other and dance,  the journey took us to West Coast Swing where we could be silly, expressive and develop in our musicality.  With the passing years of our love we found Night Club Two which allowed us to show our sexy and flirty selves.  So we see it as a blending of styles – a fusion, like West Coast Swing & East Coast Swing with a Sexy Night Club Flair and more that creates AR Street Swing. 

Our Story

Mike Nelson was born in Miami, Florida, and moved to Arkansas at age 21 as an air traffic controller in the United States Air Force. Mike was born to dance. His parents were regulars on a Miami televised dance show in the mid 50s. Mike got to watch his parents dance and learned to love to dance himself. He danced through high school to dances of his time like the Bump & the Robot. He was known around high school by his Choo-Choo Charlie Hat and his school spirit and enthusiasm. He even received a superlative award for “Most School Spirit” out of his graduating class of 2,000 students. His love of dance led him to participate in several school plays and musicals. He sang, danced and added his typical high energy and enthusiasm.

Today Mike has two adult kids; a daughter who lives in Hawaii and a son who is a Marine back from his 2nd tour in Ramadi, Iraq.  Mike is a mental health therapist and a national certified counselor and is a co-founder and director of an international organization called Keys To Safer Schools.com and CounselorNelson.com

He works with serious offender juveniles and has traveled extensively in the USA, Canada and Europe as an international trainer in school violence prevention. He is a sought after subject matter expert in Assessing Dangerousness, Recovering from School Shootings, Child and Adolescent Physical Restraint, School Related Terrorism, Crisis Response Planning, Bullying, Anger Management and De-escalation and other violence prevention subjects.  He has co-authored a number of books on the subject and has provided numerous newspaper, radio and TV interviews on school and juvenile violence issues, like Fox Network and the British Broadcasting Network (BBC).

Kim Nelson was born in Long Beach, California. She moved to Cabot, Arkansas, at age 14 and has lived there ever since. Kim has two children and two grandchildren. She owns and operates a successful five-station hair salon called HeadsFirst.net. She always loved to dance but never had the opportunity to “couple” dance except for the times her dad would pull her into the kitchen while the radio was playing and “swing” her around. After 22 years of marriage and becoming “suddenly single” her dad invited her to the bop club. This was the perfect setting for her, a place to begin to rebuild her life, and she has been heavily involved ever since.  She touches many people through her work as a hairstylist and never misses an opportunity to share with clients the riches of dancing.

To learn more about their dancing history